Podcast Episodes | The British History Podcast

“O happy earl, in bairns and forebears blessedSiring four guarantors of England’s peace. First, Edith, gem-link on the kingdom’s brest,All virtues’ friend, fit daughter for the earl,Her sire, and also her spouse, the king;By her advice peace wraps the kingdom roundAnd Keeps mankind from breaking pacts of peace. Thus from your single fount, O Paradise,You part in […] The post 368 – Move or Yo...

Swegn Godwinson was exiled….again. Only this time it was for life. As that judgment came down, the Godwins must have realized they had been maneuvered into blind dependence on the King’s mercy. The post 367 – Move, or You Will Be Moved Part 2 first appeared on The British History Podcast .

The summer of 1051 must have felt like some sort of nightmare. A French aristocrat rode into Dover, picked a fight and then slaughtered the townsfolk. And that man’s cousin, the King of England, told the townsfolk’s lord (Earl Godwin of Wessex) to go back and finish the job…by butchering his own people on behalf […] The post 366 – Move, or You Will Be Moved: Part 1 first appeared on The Brit...

In 1050, Thorrfinn the Jarl of Orkney went to Rome. And no trip to Rome is complete without a visit with the Pope. And when Thorrfin had his meeting, we’re told that Pope personally absolved the Jarl’s sins. The post 365 – The Red Cliffs of Dover first appeared on The British History Podcast .

Complex societies are able to do incredible things.  By having an interconnected civilization, with people from all over the place contributing to it, people are able to specialize… and that specialization allows for entire classes of people who can do things that would be impossible if they had to meet their own basic needs all […] The post 364 – Reconciliation first appeared on The Br...

Piece by piece, the board was being set for a comeback. The Godwin family had been thrown from power decades ago. But Godwin knew how to be patient and grind it out. And now he was back on top, the second most powerful person in England. The post 363 – Treason! first appeared on The British History Podcast .

History is just the story of humans across time. Therefore, like humanity, history is varied, it’s emotional, it’s complex. And often it’s just f*cking messy. The post 362 – Meet the Godwins first appeared on The British History Podcast .

King Edward came to England with a political migraine. The post 361 – W A Poet first appeared on The British History Podcast .

In 1040, while England was dealing with the chaos of Harthacnut’s reign and the threat of yet another succession mess, Scotland was dealing with its own set of problems. The northern Kingdom just lost its king. And that wasn’t anything new for Scotland… their Kings rarely lasted long. The post 360 – The Long Game first appeared on The British History Podcast .

In 1040, England once again had a new King. But England was finding Harthacnut a tough pill to swallow. The post 359 – Play Autocrat Games; Win Autocrat Prizes first appeared on The British History Podcast .

Happy Halloween! The post The Witch of Fife first appeared on The British History Podcast .

Today’s story starts in 1039. It’s a big year, and a lot has happened to get us here. So let’s recap very quickly. The death of Cnut caused a cascade of consequences that reached up to the tip of Scotland and even into the continent. It was an empire crumbling just as it had been […] The post 358 – King Harthacnut first appeared on The British History Podcast .

The early 11th century was an unlikely time of heroes. By heroes I unfortunately don’t mean people of good character and brave deeds, but just people who perform extraordinary feats for their time. One of these was the very first King of Wales, Gruffudd ap Llewelyn. The post 357 – Walter Map’s Courtly Trifles first appeared on The British History Podcast .

Here is the story of Macbeth. If you have just tuned into this episode because of the title, know that it is the second episode in a two-part series. You will want to go to the previous episode, Double Double Toil and Trouble, and listen to that first. There you will learn about the peculiar region that spawned this shadowy highland King. The post 356 – Macbeth first appeared on The British Histor...

As we have been covering the Dark Ages, we have been at the mercy of the scribes. If they don’t write something down, there is almost no way for us to know about it. One of the biggest casualties in this dynamic has been Scotland. The post 355 – Double, Double Toil and Trouble first appeared on The British History Podcast .

The death of Cnut and the fall of his near-Empire would obviously have impacts on his own dynasty. But while Harold was trying to secure England, Emma was trying to regain power, and poor Edward was trying to stay out of the whole mess, the political tsunami was roaring over the shores of the Irish […] The post 354 – The West, after Cnut first appeared on The British History Podcast .

The Medieval chronicler, Adam of Bremen, was writing at around this point in history and among the many things he tells us he also includes how Cnut planned his almost empire. And Adam tells us that Cnut intended Sweyn to rule Norway, Harthacnut to rule Denmark, and Harold Harefoot to rule England. And that might […] The post 353 – Mother of the Year first appeared on The British History Pod...

It was November 11 of 1035 and King Cnut was dead. He was buried at Winchester Cathedral. Cnut, and likely the Court, seemed to anticipate his death. Possibly because he had been ill for some time. But the ruling classes of Europe were still completely unprepared for the chaos that followed. The post 352 – Chaos first appeared on The British History Podcast .

I wonder if Cnut could see what was coming. All the signs were in front of him. Everything was starting to line up. But was he actually putting it together? The post 351 – Collapse first appeared on The British History Podcast .

We have another mystery on our hands. We have a missing year. And I don’t think it was because nothing was happening. The post 350 – A Tough Cnut to Crack first appeared on The British History Podcast .

Successful Kings don’t rule alone. This is especially true for Kings with as much going on as Cnut. And one of Cnut’s most influential right-hand men was actually his Queen. And Emma was more than just an advisor. She was wielding considerable power in her own right, power that likely expanded every time Cnut journeyed […] The post 349 – AElfgifu’s Tale first appeared on The British History...

Europe was in chaos in the 1020s. Crises just kept coming, and the powerful were trying to capitalize on disorder. And in times like these, actions can have outsized impact, even the smaller ones. For example, if you sat in Leicester during the 1020s, the last thing you would have been paying attention to would […] The post 348 – Ruling Hard or Hardly Ruling first appeared on The British His...

What we call history was, at one point, just current events. And world affairs never happen in a vacuum. It’s never just one thing happening after another… it’s a whole mesh of events that, while they might happen in their own sequences that look very much like just one thing happening after another, they’re actually […] The post 347 – Aggressive Diplomacy first appeared on The British Histo...

It’s 1025 Cnut had a problem on his hands. Barely a year after putting down Thorkell’s rebellion, Cnut was sailing for Denmark… again. To war, again. The post 346 – Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Drakkars first appeared on The British History Podcast .

In the early 11th century, the English were crushed by the Scots in the Battle of Carham. We are told that King Malcolm of Scotland, supported by King Owain of Strathclyde, brought their combined armies to bear against the forces of Ealdorman Uhtred of Bernicia in 1018… and there, they slaughtered the English. But there’s […] The post 345 – Building Blocks first appeared on The British Histo...